Midterm at Cuerici

It’s 11:27 PM at Cuerici, a little farm-lodge setup up in the Cloud Mountains. There is no internet connection here so by the time of this posting I will already be in Palo Verde. But before that, let me just say, I love it here. Rainforests have a wild, lush feeling to them, but mountains have this ruggedness that is just indomitable. Our cabin is very rustic and quaint, and the entire area is like something out of a fairytale.

There is a white horse here named Neblina (‘Fog’ in Spanish) and there is also Carlos, property owner and mountain man extraordinaire who also happens to walk around with a machete at his waist. Too cool.

View Costa Rica - OTS in a larger map

Actually, we came to Cuerici to take a midterm exam. Let’s not dwell too long on that subject (alright, it was pretty challenging, not in the best way). It’s over now though and after this night of chimney fire and storytelling, we are ready to head to our fourth site: Palo Verde. Throughout the trip our professors have been ‘warning’ us about the clouds of mosquitoes, the sweltering heat, and all that good stuff. It will certainly be a drastic change from the cool mountains.


I’ll leave it at that, and add to this post at Palo Verde before I post it. It’s already been a week and a half… can you believe it?


Palo Verde. A Coati welcomed us as we walked out of the bus while dragonflies (our protectors) darted every which way scooping up mosquitoes. As the day progressed, and we only arrived at around 4-5 PM… we saw egrets, whistling ducks, a ctenosaur, snakes, a raccoon, many moths, beetles, and spiders. And of course, mosquitoes. Up till now I haven’t touched any repellent and I was already eaten up as it was before Palo Verde. Even on tonight’s night hike, I refused to use any and I cut my nails short so that I wouldn’t scratch. It was rough though, and I am told that it is worse in the morning, when they occur in mobs. That and the humidity + heat of day is enough to drive me mad. Recommendation for not being bitten is to wear two long sleeve shirts.


So I give; pass the Deet. As much as I would have liked to say ‘I didn’t use any repellent throughout this trip,’ I would like more to enjoy the spring of diversity that is Palo Verde and not have to slap my arm every ten seconds, or suffer a heat stroke. Our professor has a point though, that we’re leaving our DNA with these mosquitoes and passing it through the chains of life. I have to appreciate this onslaught of bugs that drives this whole system and makes possible the birds, reptiles, and every other creature I saw today and will see over the next five days.


I miss the mountains. But there is a lot to be learned here as well.

BioDIVERSITY

We're well settled in the Wilson Botanical Garden area of Las Cruces Field Station by the time of this posting. Natural History orientations, lectures on writing scientific papers and bird families of Costa Rica are only a few of the topics we covered throughout these days, but of course the best teacher is still personal experience. Today was our first opportunity to do actual fieldwork, and we pseudo-bushwhacked through primary forest to count the number of ferns, woody plants, herbs and palms along our 25 m transect. I learned something very important and shockingly obvious as a result of this experiment...
People too often think of a 'forest' as nothing but trees, and we overlook the smaller aspects of it, such as undergrowth and abiotic factors. This, along with our lecture on Restoration Ecology today taught me, above all else, that there are so many factors to consider when trying to 'save' an area. There's more to just planting trees. And yes, this should be common knowledge, but think of a forest right now... What do you imagine? I'll bet the first things that comes to mind are sweeping green canopies and sturdy trunks. If not, I'd like to know, because I'm still trying to add that layer of undergrowth to the forests in my mind. This course has made us question and find the answers for ourselves. Among a handful of articles we have to read, one is about the 'value' of Biodiversity, from an ecological standpoint and an economic one. I can go on and on about this, and I plan to during our discussion on Sunday, but I strongly believe that you cannot put a monetary value on any life, or combinations of lives that create our ecosystems.

Anyways, besides all the intellectual overload, let me share with you some rare moments that I've been lucky to capture on camera, or just creatures that are too beautiful for words:




I forgot to mention that the Wilson Gardens contain "over 1000 genera in more than 200 plant families," taken from all over the world. This is a certain kind of bamboo from Japan, and for it to reach this height of... a 3 story building at least... took one month. One.











Oh, and at the base of one of the stalks were these two lizards duking it out. I was able to get close enough to take this macro shot.






And then there were these two Bird-Eating Snakes mating by our cabin, spotted by yours truly. Captured on camera, too... what could be better?















A video, of course.




This is the view from inside a Strangler Fig structure... Imagine a typical, HUGE rain forest tree. A strangler fig is a vine that slowly but surely wraps around its host tree and eventually... well, strangles it to death. When the tree rots away, the fig vine still remains. And this thing is ginormous... the only thing that gives away the fact that it is not a tree is that it is hollow.










We went to look at a blacklight sheet (used to attract insects) tonight and before long we realized we were standing in the way of a swarm of army ants. Imagine the very ground beneath you *pulsing* with ants, ants with large pincers. I was lucky enough not to be bitten but a few of my peers were. I later went back and dropped a moth into the swarm and watched it get completely engulfed in a matter of seconds. The ones pictured here were pulled off of my socks.





And I have a lot of great pictures of moths and beetles from the blacklight, which I visited again after the swarm cleared, but I won't bother you with all of those shots. Here is one that a girl showed to me as I was writing this blog though. Beautiful. Here, you can't escape from the wild, not even when you're inside. And that's just how I like it.

Costa Rica is...

Amazing.
Did you see that coming? I definitely did. So much has happened already and we're not even at the field stations yet. I am writing this from a hotel called El Sesteo, which is a cozy but beautiful place. I'm surrounded by budding Microbiologists, Botanists, Ornithologists, Conservationists, and others who are here to broaden their horizons or figure out what they want to do. We range from as young as 1.5? (professor Alex Sloan's son), to a professor who is much older than any of us who teaches at the University of Oregon. Already the diversity is so great and the energy is so enriching, and we have yet to step foot in a rainforest. I'm excited, and I expect great things to happen.














Above are pictures of El Sesteo.

Today was our first formal lecture. It was (intensely interesting, in my opinion) mostly about safety concerning snakes, but we also learned a great deal about the snakes of Costa Rica and the production of antivenom. In fact, we had this lecture in the Institute of Clodomiro Picado, where antivenom is produced and shipped all over the world. It seems like snake encounters are inevitable here, and especially when we really get into the thick of things, but I'm looking forward to it. I want to feel that burst of adrenaline (but not be bitten). Actually, the chances of me dying if I'm bitten are pretty close to zero, so that would be quite a story to tell, wouldn't it?

Lunch was served afterwards at the OTS headquarters, where we also had a lecture on the Geology and Climate of Costa Rica by our other coordinator/professor, Brian O'Shea, followed by an overview of our course from Prof. Sloan.
Dinner took place at a Mexican restaurant called Maria Bonita ("pretty Maria" in Spanish) and free time is happening as I am typing this. The halls are quiet, and I suspect everyone is on their computer now that the management finally fixed the internet.

I will leave it at that for now, because we are leaving at 7 am tomorrow for Las Cruces, a 7 hour drive. Meanwhile, enjoy this picture of an anole I caught earlier this evening at the hotel (and let me know if you know the species, because nothing I've searched matches so far):

Ready, Set, GO!

For a hectic 30 minutes tonight, I was done. Kaput. This trip was over before it even started. I had EVERYTHING packed except the one, most important thing, the first item on the first checklist: my passport. It is my fault, partly for being disorganized and partly for procrastinating. In less than 12 hours I will be in another country and I'd only started packing earlier tonight. Everything is ready now though, packed tight into a single duffel bag and my school backpack, from the Flip Video I hope to have a chance to use for this blog, to the EpiPen I hope I won't have to use. This is the night of spontaneous thoughts and last minute doubts. I am wondering how much dancing will be involved throughout this course (hinted many times throughout the packet), and I am slightly worried because I have just about as much dancing ability as a rock. I am reminding myself to pick up extra contact lense solution from some pharmacy before I go. I am thinking about the past month and a half; my To-Do List of things to-do in New York is mostly checked off, but there are still empty spaces. But I am ready, I tell myself, for an adventure. I am ready. I am ready. I am...

...tired, and I should admit that it's 12:26 AM as I am typing this sentence, my flight is 7:30 am, and I'm leaving the house at 5 am. I like to sleep during flights because that is how I will adapt to the sudden change in time/schedule/country. I'd like to stay awake till 7:30, fall asleep before take off, and wake up there. Wouldn't that be glorious? But I know that is impossible, because I am already falling asleep at the keyboard, and 3.5 hours later, I will wake up groggy and grumpy and want to not be in Costa Rica (which is a lie!). Let me stop here though, and say: Goodbye New York, Goodbye Soro (my dog), Goodbye Mom and family and friends!

My next post will be from Costa Rica. See you there!